Construction starting on huge Legacy West mixed-use project in Plano

Developers are breaking ground this week on the first phase of the huge Legacy West mixed-use project in Plano.

Karahan Cos. and Columbus Realty Partners plan to start work Thursday on the 34-acre project at the Dallas North Tollway and Legacy Drive.

The high-density retail, apartment, office and hotel complex is just east of where Toyota Motors will soon be building its $350 million North American headquarters.

Construction of the pedestrian oriented urban village was a key factor in Toyota’s decision to locate its office campus in Legacy business park.

“We are going to build the project all at once,” said developer Fehmi Karahan. “We are going to have about 280,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 621 apartment units initially.

“There will be about 240,000 square feet of offices over the retail space,” Karahan said. “We are hoping to have everything open in October of 2016.”

Toyota plans to start moving the first of almost 4,000 workers into its nearby campus in 2017.

Karahan said that his company and its representatives at Open Realty Advisors already have leases in the works with several large restaurants and retailers for the project. “There is a tremendous amount of interest and we are in lease negotiations with key anchor tenants,” he said.

Architect Gensler designed the project.

Columbus Realty Partners – headed by builder Robert Shaw and his partner Roger Staubach – are doing the apartment development.

Construction of a 300-room, $82 million Renaissance Hotel will also start soon at the northeast corner of Legacy and Headquarters Drives.

Combined, the Legacy West urban village and hotel will have a value of almost $400 million, said Karahan.

“We still have about seven acres on the north side to do a condo tower or an office building,” he said. “You are not going to recognize this by the start of 2017.”

Along with the commercial development, a 12-acre high-density home project will be constructed on the west side of Communications Drive next to J.C. Penney’s corporate campus. BR Homebuilding Group of Plano will be doing the urban, detached home community.

Karahan Cos. and Columbus Realty – which built the successful Legacy Town Center development on the east side of the Dallas North Tollway – announced in early 2013 that they had reached an agreement along with developer KDC to partner with J.C. Penney and develop 240 acres of vacant land surrounding the department store company’s West Plano office campus.

About the same time, KDC signed a deal to build a 265,000-square-foot headquarters for FedEx Office as part of the Legacy West project. About 1,200 FedEx workers will move to the buildings late this year.

Toyota last April announced that it would move its North American headquarters from Southern California to 100 acres in the Legacy West project. KDC is also building the Toyota campus.

The relocation will be one of the largest corporate moves ever to North Texas.